Last date of Income Tax Return filing is approaching. All taxpayers have a lot of doubts and queries related to income tax. Though each query is different and unique but there are some common points which are useful for all taxpayers. Over last 10 years, the return filing process has simplified. Once it was unthinkable to file the return on your own. I used to pay Rs 4,000 for return filing in Mumbai. TRP was 1st major reform and max fees of a TRP was capped. Online tax filing turned the table upside down and completely simplified the entire process. In case, you have income only from salary, you don’t require any professional help to file the return.
I still believe that there is a long way to go. The entire taxation process should be simplified. One of the solutions is to do away with deductions and allowances. Tax at lower rate 5% should be charged on Gross income. Another solution is to tax cash transactions which will bring more people in the tax net. The biggest problem in India is the mindset of people to evade tax. If everyone will start paying the tax honestly then Income Tax rates will automatically reduce to lower levels. It will bring more people under tax net as lower rates will not pinch the pocket of taxpayers. Anyways its a topic of long discussion. Through this post, i am sharing 51 important points related to income tax.
Income Tax – 51 Important Points
1. The official website of Income Tax department is www.incometaxindia.gov.in
It is one of the most comprehensive websites with complete information on income tax. You will find the answer to all your queries on this website.
2. As per Income Tax Act, Income is taxable under five heads- Salary, House Property, Business or Profession, Capital Gain and income from other Sources. It sounds so simple but in reality it is very complex to calculate.
3. For a Salaried Employee, Form 16 from his Employer is a must.
4. A Salaried Employee can file Income Tax Return by using Form 16 and adding other Income. Here i am assuming that there is no other source of income
5. From FY 2015-16, Transport Allowance is exempted up to Rs.1,600 per month.
6. A Standard deduction of 30% is available on Income from House Property.
7. Second House Property is always considered as deemed let out. You have to consider the Income from House Property even if it is vacant. In case of Home Loan, you can claim Loss from the Let Out Property.
8. For self-occupied house property, maximum deduction of Interest on Home Loan is Rs. 2 Lac. For let out property, actual Home Loan Interest is allowed as a deduction.
9. Repayment of Home Loan Principal amount u/s 80C is up to Rs. 1.5 Lac. You may check my post, Home Loan Tax Benefit Deductions for more details.
10. In case of a Business, Tax Audit is compulsory if sales turnover exceeds Rs.1 Cr.
11. In case of self employed professionals, Tax Audit is compulsory if the Gross Receipts exceeds Rs.25 lac.
12. Maximum Cash payment to any individual in a single day should not exceed Rs.20,000.
13. For Loans, deposits and Properties transactions, maximum cash limit is Rs.20,000 for the transaction. In property transaction, this limit is for paying token money.
14. Any loss from Business can be carried forward for next 8 financial years.
15. TDS is due at the time of making Payment.
16. TDS payment should be made on or before the 7th day of next month in which it is deducted.
17. Late filing of TDS return attracts late filing fees of Rs.200 per day u/s 234(E).
18. Long Term Capital Gain will arise if the holding period of an Asset is more than 3 years. In case of Equity, if the holding period is more than 1 year then there is no tax on the capital gains.
19. In most of the cases, Long Term Capital Gains is taxable @ 20%
20. STT paid Long Term Capital Gain on equity etc is exempted from the Income Tax.
21. If the STT is paid then Short Term Capital Gain is taxed @ 15%.
22. Capital Gain on Immovable Properties is chargeable at Guidance Value/Ready Reckoner Value or Transaction value, whichever is higher.
23. Dividend distributed by the domestic companies is exempted from Tax.
24. Agricultural Income is 100% exempted from Tax.
25. Gifts received from the non-blood relatives which exceed Rs.50,000 is taxable in the hands of recipient.
26. Gifts received at the time of Marriage, inherited through Will or Succession and from blood relatives are tax free.
27. Maximum deduction allowed u/s 80C, 80CCC and 80 CCD is Rs.1,50,000.
28. Tax deduction on Health Insurance Premium is available up to Rs. 25,000.
29. Tax deduction on Health Insurance Premium is available up to Rs. 20,000 for parents.
30. Deduction limit of Interest earned on Savings Account is up to Rs.10, 000.
31. Income earned by a Minor child is clubbed with the income of Parents.
32. It is critical that every Taxpayer should verify his Form 26AS.
33. Form 26AS provides the Information regarding the TDS deducted, Advance Tax paid and Refund details.
34. If there is discrepancy between Income mentioned in the Form 26AS and the Income Tax Return filed then the taxpayer may receive notice from the IT department.
35. For FY 2015-16, Basic Exemption Limit for individuals is Rs.2.5 Lac.
36. For FY 2015-16, Basic Exemption Limit for Senior Citizen i.e. above 60 years age is Rs. 3 Lac.
37. For FY 2015-16, Basic Exemption Limit for Super Senior Citizen i.e. above 80 years age is Rs. 5 lac.
38. Advance Tax should be paid if the Tax Liability during the financial year exceeds Rs. 10,000.
39. A Surcharge of 12% is applicable if the Income Exceeds Rs. 1 Crore.
40. It is mandatory to file Income Tax Return if the Income exceeds Basic Exemption Limit.
41. It is mandatory to provide details of all the Bank Accounts in Income Tax return.
42. It is mandatory to provide Passport number in the Income Tax return.
43. It is mandatory to provide detail of Fixed Assets held abroad in the Income Tax return.
44. If the taxable income of Individual is less than Rs. 5 Lacs then rebate of Rs.2,000/- is available on Tax.
45. Aadhar No. should be mentioned in the Income Tax return.
46. If the income exceeds Rs. 5 lacs then e-filing is mandatory.
47. You can e-file income tax return only for Previous 2 Years.
48. PAN Card is essential for Taxpayers and it should not be mentioned in return.
49. If you have Aadhaar then you need not send ITR V acknowledgment through Ordinary Post or Speed Post to IT department. You can opt for Aadhaar based authentication to file Income Tax Return.
50. TDS u/s 194IA is deducted from Seller’s contribution. A buyer cannot claim a refund of TDS deducted.
51. Tax Benefit of Rs 5,000/- is available u/s 80D for preventive health check up.
Hope you liked the post.
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Is Amount received as per service compensation act in andhra pradesh, exempt from tax u/s 89? Please suggest.
Thanks
I need to check more details to answer this query.
While filing ITR-2, where to include Allowances exempt under sec 10?
I will share in separate post on ITR
Dear Sir,
Can you save more income tax under 80 CCE for NPS subscribers?. I mean in addition to 150000, I came to know another 50,000 can be saved. Please tell me if it can be done.
That’s correct. You can save additional Rs 50,000 from current FY under NPS.
Can you tell me the procedure?. Should I invest 50,000 rs again under NPS for saving this?. Is it new from this year or it was there last year also?.
You have not mentioned whether it is personal NPS account or provided by your employer.
If one has three houses in his own name in a city at three different locations purchased in 2000,2008 and 2014 and he himself stays in a rented house. For income tax purposes which house he can declare as self occupied and others rented out. Can he claim deduction for the rent he is paying to his house owner ?
It depends which property is on Home Loan and rent received from each. Secondly, there should be proper justification to claim HRA.
Thanx sir, but my querry was let the houses be A,B and C and house C is in home loan. Can he declare house A or B as self occupied i.e.will he be at liberty to declare any one of them as self occupied and himself continue to stay in a rented house.
NO
Thanx sir, but my querry was let the houses be A,B and C and house C is in home loan. Can he declare house A or B as self occupied i.e.will he be at liberty to declare any one of them as self occupied and himself continue to stay in a rented house.
Not possible.
I recently received gift of 1.5 lac rs in my account from my elder brother and used the same to make part payment of my already existing home loan.What are the tax implication of this on me or my brother .We both come in 30% tax bracket.
Gift received from real brother is non-taxable in your hand. There are NO tax implications on you or your brother.
Hi Sir,
Need your help as I am about to file my ITR-1.
My Case : For financial year 2014-15 I was employed from April-14 till Oct-14 and being unemployed till 31st Mar-15. Now when I left job in Oct-14, my company provided me lump sum salary after deducting tax (TDS) on pro-rata basis as below :
HRA for 7 months (Apr-Oct)
under sec 24b home loan Interest Prorated for 7 Months( Annual Interest paid/12X7 )
under sec 80c 150000/-
above exemptions were given based on proofs which I submitted at that time.
Now my form-16 document the above details. However since I kept paying my home loan instalments. Can I take full benefit of 200000/- limit on house loan interest under sec-24b? (Self Occupied property).
If yes how can I do that?
Thanks & Regards,
Ashish Nahar
You can claim Rs 2 lac tax deduction. You can mention while filing ITR for FY 2014-15.
Sir,
Thanks for clarification. Do i also need to submit any proof regarding that as my form-16 doesn’t mention exemption of total interest amount (2L).
You can send proof along with ITR.
Hi Sir,
I filled it online, will my Assessment Officer contact me to ask for the proof or can i send it anyways to CPC, Bangalore.
You can send along with ITR
Hi Nitin,
Is the maturity of LIC policy taxable ? Do I need to declare in ITR ?
Where in ITR-1 do i need to mention it ?
Regards
Ramya
It depends on type of policy, premium paid, sum assured and date on which policy is issued.
Dear Sir,
I and my wife hold a couple of joint accounts. I am first holder in one and wife is the first holder in second account. I understand that all bank accounts need to be mentioned in ITR. Should we mention both accounts in both ITRs or just the one with First holder.
Regards,
Gaurav
You and your wife, both should mention joint accounts in respective ITR.
I have rented my fully furnished house on rent to a company. Separate agreements for both House and Equipment. Company deducts 2% on furniture rent paid under 194C. Is that correct? Should I be filing ITR2/4 because of it? I just have this income. Can I club it in house rent and file ITR1? Is depreciation allowed?
I need to check your agreements to answer these queries. It depends on case to case basis.
Do we need to report PF withdrawal (post 5 years of contribution – so exempted) in ITR1?
NO
Thanks for your response.
It is not required to be reported since its not an income just like matured LIC policy or some other reason? Please share your thoughts for benefit of all.
Statutory lock in period of 5 year for tax free withdrawal is completed.
is there any tax liability on income arising from maturity proceeds from PPF or Equity MF(after 1 year), if i invest had invested primarily in my wifes’s name.
There is NO tax liability.
I am assuming that you get 1 month off from your job and then during employment only you stay with your parents. In this case, you cannot claim HRA for 1 month’s rent paid to your parents.
Hi Sir,
I am having Home loan sanction 3125000, and got 2475000 in FY 2014-15 because the building construction work progress(80%), and flat price comes less than 40 lack so is it the case eligible for Tax benefit 80EE ?(As well I’m ist time property buyer)
2.) In the FY 2014-15 purchased property and start to pay EMI but not yet construction completed, so can i claim the interest paid in Under section 24?(Stamp duty and Registration fees shown in 80C)
3.)last year(FY 2013-14) i missed my ITR fill-up because income was not in taxable amount so should i fill it now ?
Thanks & Regards
Sneha
My wife had some agriculture land jointly owned by her and her mother , which was bought before marriage . The property is sold now and the buyer ( suppose Mr. X ) Deposited some money in cash to My wife’s account and some amount in her mother’s account . I have following queries
1. Do my wife need to submit any declaration in bank that from where this amount has come ?
I have bought a flat and my wife is a co-owner of that flat and this flat was bought 1 year before the sale of the agriculture land .
If My wife pays this entire amount which she got from Mr. X to the builder in 3 instalments .
2. Does she still need to pay tax on this amount earned from Mr X
3. If no , then does she need to submit any declaration to the bank or IT department ?
Cash transaction in property deal in excess of Rs 20,000 is illegal and may land your wife in trouble. A cash component beyond specified limit in any transaction is considered as circulation of black money.
I may not be able answer your queries as the transaction is in CASH and i never suggest cash dealings as it is against the law of land. My sincere apologies.
Hello Nitin ,
I am sorry , I did not communicated my query well .
its not a cash transaction , its an RTGS transaction.
Can you please help me regarding my queries .
Thanks
1. No. If bank ask then you can clarify
2. Capital gain will be applicable in proportion of ownership in property.
3. She can mention details in her ITR
Hello Nitin ,
I am sorry , I did not communicated my query well .
its not a cash transaction , its an RTGS transaction.
Can you please help me regarding my queries .
Thanks
Vikas
I am living in accomodation (delhi) provided by my employer and so I dont get HRA. in salary.
I am also living at my parents house about 1 month in a year(gujarat). can I pay rent to my parents to get deduction under 80GG? I dont have any property anywhere in my name.
whats are documents required?
hi nitinji
very useful post. thank u for that. I have a question. I have a flat which is in Rajasthan. Now that is my only flat and it is let out. how it will be treated self occupied or let out and will interest paid on home loan will be taken in full for tax deduction or it is limited to rs. 2 lacs.
You have not mentioned currently you are residing in which city.
i am residing in Delhi.
Your property in Rajasthan will be treated as “Let out property” and you can claim deduction on 100% interest component. Please check my following post for more details.
https://www.nitinbhatia.in/personal-finance/income-from-house-property/
Dear Nitin Sir,
Pardon if I am off topic ! I am an NRI, but using my PAN card which was obtained before leaving India. Am I required to change my address in the PAN card to my current NRI address ? Using this old PAN,I have booked a property with bank loan and for which I had been filing TDS .Will I face any problem at the time of Regn of this property or later with IT authorities ?
Thanks,Tom
You should always update your current residence address in PAN so that you should not miss any important communication from Income Tax Department. Though non updation of PAN will not have any impact on property purchase process.
Hi Nitin sir,
I have one flat booked in Gurgaon (under construction, possession not given). It was booked in year 2009. I have been living in Delhi on rent till Oct’16 and have purchased the same flat (in which living on rent) in Nov’16. Till now I was availing HRA benefits for Delhi flat by showing rent receipts and landlord’s PAN number. Also, I was availing benefit of Rs 2Lakh on interest part for Gurgaon’s flat (loan taken from SBI bank).
The Delhi flat is co-owned by me and wife and also loan is borrowed by both (HDFC bank). Now, I need to submit the documents in my office for TDS deduction. Pls help me on below points:
a) Should I show anywhere about Gurgaon property?
b) HRA can be claimed from Apr’16 till Oct’16? As property has been purchased in Nov and currently we are residing there.
c) Can I avail home loan interest benefit (loan HDFC for currently purchased property)? Also me and wife are co-owner and co-borrowers, can I avail 100% interest benefit or 50% only?
Regards,
Rajiv
Investment by NRI in India
X a NRI wants to invest some amount in India. What all steps should we observe for this investment by a NRI for Income tax purposes . Please explain
You may check my posts related to NRI’s.
Sir, My Father has Salary Income(TDS of which is Deducted and Paid by the Company) and House Property which is Self occupied and Interest is Claimed..due to which Loss in house property arises….How will he adjust the losses.??
For self occupied property max deduction on principal u/s 80C is 1.5 Lac and 2 Lac on interest component u/s 24B.